


Familiarity: Games

by NotProudNotOut



Series: Familiarity - An Avengers college AU [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU, Angst and Humor, Brian Banner's A+ Parenting, Friendship, Games, Gen, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Kid Fic, Odin's A+ Parenting, Playing, bitterweet, child abuse and neglect, mentions of:
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-28
Updated: 2014-03-28
Packaged: 2018-01-17 07:54:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1379845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotProudNotOut/pseuds/NotProudNotOut
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Children have always played games, whatever the circumstances. They play to entertain themselves, to soothe themselves and sometimes to show off to each other.</p>
<p>Chapter 1: Clint and Natasha play agents - Clint just wished that Black Widow could be there with him, when he has to save Nat.</p>
<p>This fic belongs to my Avengers College AU series, so these stories are NOT set in canon MCU nor 616 or any other known universe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There will be five chapters all in all, featuring Clint+Natasha, Bruce, Thor+Loki, Tone+Imaginary!Steve and Steve+Bucky+Pepper.
> 
> I repeat the tags, and hereby warn against mentions of, and hints at, child abuse and neglect of different natures. (Including, but not limited to, vague hints at sexual abuse in the fist chapter)

”Whuuush!” Clint exclaimed, sending an imaginary arrow towards an innocent tree. Natasha ran toward the tree, delivering a kick to it’s roots.

“He’s down!” She exclaimed excitedly and Clint edged closer. Soon the two kids were hunched over the imaginary guard.

“Is he dead?” Natasha asked and poked the ground.

“Not yet,” Clint answered and they both sat there a little while. Then Natasha looked to Clint with a mischievous look in her eyes.

“Come on agent – We have to keep moving!” She got to her feet, and went to hide behind the tree that was now a tree again. Clint followed her, readying his bow.

“How many are there?” Clint whispered. Natasha narrowed her eyes.

“More than we can handle like this.. Wait here. I’ll distract them, you shoot as soon as I get them close enough!” Clint nodded seriously, and made himself ready behind the tree, as Natasha transformed in front of him.

She went from strong Agent Black Widow to cry-baby eleven-year old in a matter of seconds. Clint watched in awe as she went out, and started babbling to the air about being lost, sniffing all along the way.

Clint pulled the string back, as Natasha held up her hand, and seemingly started to lead the guards in his direction. Soon they were close enough, and Clint let the first arrow fly with an audible “whuuush!”.

Black Widow was back now, and started attacking the guards, as Clint jumped out from hiding and loudly “whuuush”’ed the rest of the guards to death.

Soon the two agents were united once again, and looked towards their goal: The Old Warehouse.

Natasha looked seriously towards Clint, and he swallowed once at the strong emotion in her green eyes. Suddenly she fell to her knees, clutching her abdomen.

“I’ve been hit!” she exclaimed, and Clint went down beside her with an overplayed “Nooo!”

“It’s.. It’s up to you now….Agent Hawkeye… You must save her..” Natasha gritted out, and Clint desperately wanted to tell her _No, it doesn’t have to be this way, I don’t have to save her anymore, she can save herself!_ – But that’s not how the game went.

Soon the Agent was dead, and Clint watched with dread as she got to her feet, completely void of readable expression – Like an actual ghost. This was the part of the game he hated the most.

She walked on, ghostlike, and Clint waited until she’d disappeared into the old abandoned hut they called The Warehouse.

He edged closer, lifting his bow to be ready for anything. He wished Black Widow could be there to help him: But he was okay alone. It was his job to save Nat.

As he came within hearing range, he could hear the unmistakable sounds of his damsel in distress. The muffled cries, and the sound of things being thrown around.

He imagined her trashing on the ground, and remembered the stench of sweat and strange grunting sounds from some beast.

He lifted his bow, and got ready to go kill whichever monster had taken hold of his friend this time.

He would keep killing them until they were all dead, every single one of them, so maybe on that day Black Widow could be by his side when they stormed The Warehouse.

 


	2. Noa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce tries to make friends with Noa, his new family's dog.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bruce is eight years old in this story, and was recently put into the care of lesbian couple Melissa and Beth after his father has been sent to prison.

“Hey,” Bruce said and eyed the golden retriever suspiciously. Noa looked back, and wagged her tail a few times against the floor.

He’d been looking at the dog from a distance ever since he got here. Melissa had asked him if he liked dogs, and he had said he didn’t mind. But the dog had been really big that first day, and Melissa and Beth had been keeping her from him since.

“Take your time,” Beth said and Bruce had fought not to talk back. Take his time on WHAT?!

“Don’t worry, she doesn’t bite,” Melissa had assured him, and Bruce hated himself for wanting to hit her. Of course the fucking dog didn’t bite. Middle class well-educated lesbian altruists didn’t have golden retrievers that bit people.

Did she think he was a stupid kid or something?

“You’re so smart,” Beth had said when she saw his equations, and she seemed so honestly impressed Bruce had no idea what to make of it. OF COURSE he was smart – But she didn’t have to be so damn happy about it, did she?

“How old is Noa?” he had asked one day over dinner, and looked towards the dog. It looked sad. Probably because it wasn’t allowed to lie under the table when they ate. Bruce had heard Beth commenting to Melissa that it might make him uneasy.

Jesus. He weren’t made of glass, thank you very much.

But the way Beth’s face lit up at his interest in the dog had given him a weird feeling, a bit like pride, but warmer. It had felt good, so Bruce decided to give the dog a chance.

“I said hey.” He repeated to the dog, who wagged it’s fluffy tail once more. Bruce kind of wanted to touch it.

“You know I’m twice as old as you are.” He commented.

“You’re just a five year old baby.” The dog still didn’t seem inclined to react. He sighed, and walked closer. He wasn’t afraid of a golden retriever who was half his age, damnit.

“Come here,” he said in a slightly lighter voice, like the one stupid adults use when they think they’re also dealing with stupid kids.

The dog might really be stupid, he realized as it got to it’s feet and came towards him. Up close she really was rather big, but Bruce sternly reminded himself that he wasn’t afraid of some dog. So when she nudged her nose against his abdomen, he awkwardly patted her on the head.

“Good girl..” he mumbled, and to his surprise and secret excitement, the dog’s tail started to wag more eagerly. He moved his hands from her head and to her soft ears, nuzzling them gently. The dog didn’t seem displeased, rather, she leaned her head heavily against him, and moved closer as if trying to get him to pet her more. She was scrunching her face a bit, making it seem like she was smiling.

It was kind of.. cute, really.

“Okay, Noa,” Bruce said, not even realizing he was still speaking in a slightly higher pitch.

“Do you want to play?” He’d seen Melissa play with the dog before. He’d been watching from his room into the fenced garden, as she threw the ball for the dog to get again and again and again. Bruce had thought you couldn’t be very smart, if you were so easily entertained.

He looked around, but Beth was the only one home, and she had said she would be in her study grading papers or something. The dog seemed to have picked up on the word “play”, and ran towards the door with an excited bounce.

Bruce followed suit, and nervously looked around. He didn’t want to bother Beth when she was working, but he also didn’t want to do something he wasn’t supposed to. He looked into the garden, looked at the fence, and thought of Melissa playing. It should be okay.. Right?

As soon as he opened the door, the dog ran out towards the ball. Bruce expected her to pick it up, but instead she started running back and forth to it, as if she was playing with it, or having an actual fight. Bruce couldn’t help but smile at the dog’s antics, and went to assist her.

A few minutes later, he was entirely engrossed in running around, teasing the dog with the ball, and occasionally throwing it to her. He couldn’t even help the wide grin on his face, even if it felt strangely foreign.

He was so preoccupied playing with the dog, that he didn’t realize he wasn’t alone, before Beth coughed behind him. He spun around, wide-eyed, and took a few steps back. The ball dropped to the ground.

But Beth was smiling, as she held up a dog’s leash.

“Want to go with me and Noa for a walk?”


End file.
